Nya's POV

"A little left...a little right...perfect," I guide Jay. He's putting up a vine archway for when people walk into the dance. We decided on a nature theme, and I think we were able to pull it off.

We have dozens of potted plants lining the gym. The bleachers that are compressed against the wall are lined with strings of flowers. The gym floor is covered in a green tarp to prevent the heels people are going to wear from scuffing it. The tarp is partially covered by various different flower petals. At the front of the gym, there's a little stage set up. The DJ is getting everything hooked up, her station set up in the center of the stage. Next to her, on two little pedestals, the homecoming king and queen crowns rest.

Since the student body voted for king and queen on an app, there were no votes that had to be tallied. It was done automatically. The results are in an envelope on the DJ booth.

I asked Jay to tell me, but he claimed he was sworn to secrecy. It makes sense, considering my brother and one of my best friends are both in the council, but I still want to know.

"How much more do we need to set up?" Jay asks, walking over to where I'm sitting in a chair. I've been itching to help all day, but because of my leg, I've just had to direct Jay.

"Only the bringing the snacks to the snack booth," I answer, looking down at the checklist of everything we have to do.

"Great. I have coolers full of sodas and waters in the ASB room, and the rest of the snacks are in my car," he offers his hand to help me up, and I take it. I grab the crutches from next to me, placing them under my armpits.

"Lead the way," I smile. The two of us walk to the ASB room first. It's less than a minute walk from the gym, even when I'm on crutches. We walk into the room, and resting by the door, three coolers rest on a flatbed cart. "That's a lot of overpriced water."

"Hey, people buy the overpriced water. Have you seen the people at this school at school dances? They never stop," he grabs the handle of the flatbed and pushes it out of the room.

"At least it'll be cheaper than amusement park water." The two of us walk to just outside the gym where the snack booth is partially set up. It's decorated with various plants, but the snacks themselves aren't there.

While I'm not expecting it, Jay snakes his arms around me, wrapping me in a hug from behind. He rests his head on top of mine. "You look really beautiful." His words out a smile on my face.

"Can you move so I can see you?" I ask, considering I can't just turn my body around to see him because of my ankle. He complies, walking so he's in front of me before wrapping his arms around me again.

"You're looking extra handsome," I tell him. He has on black dress pants and a long sleeved, black button down. It's accented by a blue bow tie, matching his outfit with mine. I'm wearing a knee length blue dress with silver accents across my torso.

Our hug is interrupted when I feel a vibration in Jay's pocket. He notices too. He removes one of his arms from around me, leaving the other one, and pulls out the vibrating phone with his newly freed hand. It's my phone. It was in his pocket since I have no place to put it.

"It's your mom," he tells me, looking at the caller ID, before handing it to me.

I groan but pick it up nonetheless. "Hi, mom," I say semi bitterly.

"Hi Nya. How's my girl doing? Kai told me it's homecoming tonight," it's no shock that she called him first.

"I'm actually setting the dance up right now, so I need to go," I try to dismiss her as quickly as possible.

"Wait," she says. "Kai told me you got a boyfriend. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, you don't seem too interested in my life," I answer, leaning into Jay's side.

"Of course I am. I'm just busy, and you're really closed off. I don't know what to do," she admits, sighing. "I also never got any pictures of you and Kai at a football game."

"I don't go to football games. The only one I went to Kai forced me to, and Cole ended up passing out on the field."

"Oh. Can you at least take a picture with Kai tonight? I haven't seen your faces in so long," she asks.

I want to make a snarky response, but I hold it back when Jay gives me another hug. "Sure mom."

"Can you also send me pictures of you with your boyfriend from tonight?" she asks.

"Sure," I pause and pull the phone away from my ear. "Can you please send me the pictures your mom took?" I ask Jay.

"Of course."

I move the phone back to my ear. "Is he there with you?" she asks.

"Yeah, but I need to finish setting up. Bye mom," I pull the phone away from my ear again, this time hanging up.

"What did she want?" he asks.

"To talk, but it's too little too late. Come on, let's finish setting up."

---

Skylor's POV

"Pull in here," I instruct Clouse. He turns into the long, luxurious driveway to Harumi's house.

We decided to have our pictures at Harumi's house for two reasons. It has the best landscape, and she only said it had to be at her house, and no one cared enough to fight against it. She also said that parents can come with to take pictures, even though she's hiring a professional photographer. Clouse and my dad decided they were going to come, and clearly all the other parents did considering the large group of people standing in front of Harumi's house.

The three of us get out of the car and walk to the crowd of people. Everyone, except Cole and Kai, are here, and all of them have at least one parent with them.

All of the girls are talking in a circle. Chamille has her hair down and straightened, her purple bangs hitting right above her eyebrows. She's wearing a short, purple, form fitting dress. PIXAL has her hair tied up into a neat bun. Her dress is knee length. It's purple with lots of silver detailing. Mackenzie has her hair down and curled, her dress being a tight, black, and lacey. Harumi has her hair up in an elaborate bun. Her dress is short and tight. It's green with lots of gold accents. She's covered in jewelry, an emerald necklace around her neck.

"Skylor! You look so cute," Mackenzie smiles as soon as she sees me. My hair is down for what feels like the first time in forever. It's styled with loose curls. My dress is ombré, the red on my chest eventually fading into the yellow at the bottom of my dress.

"Come on girls. We can take our little photo shoot now," Harumi barely acknowledges me. We all follow her to a little secluded area of her yard filled with greenery. A man with a fancy camera already has everything set up. Our parents, along with Griffin, Morro, and their parents, follow. "I'll be in the middle. Chamille and PIXAL are next to me since they're both wearing purple. Mackenzie and Skylor are on the outside."

We take several photos like that. Then, we go onto individual photos. It isn't until after that that Cole and Kai show up.

"What took you two so long?" Harumi glares as they walk in.

"My mom called," Kai shrugs. Her eyes narrow on him.

"Why aren't you wearing your green tie?" she asks him bitterly.

"I wasn't going to wear that ugly green tie for my last homecoming. Green and red compliment each other anyways. We'll look fine," he shrugs. She stomps her foot.

"It looks like you're matching Skylor now," she complains.

"Whoops," he shrugs, a slight smirk on his face. He grabs something out of the box Cole is holding before taking a bite. "Oh yeah, we also stopped for donuts."

"You better have got me one of the glazed bars," Griffin stops whatever conversation he was having with Chamille to comment on the donuts.

"You know we sure as hell did," Cole holds the box up in the air. Both Morro and Griffin celebrate.

"I can't believe you guys," Harumi pinches the bridge of her nose. "Oh well. Come on, we need to take couples pictures," she orders. She takes some pictures with Kai. He looks partially in pain the whole time. She's obviously faking her enthusiasm.

We take some big group pictures. Harumi puts herself and Kai in the middle, banishing me to the outside, but other than that it's fun. Mackenzie and I take some duo pictures, and then we take some of the two of us with PIXAL.

"I need to handle some stuff inside. We can leave once I'm back," Harumi dismisses herself. At the first chance, Kai makes his way over to next to me.

"We should take some pictures, just us," he suggests. I raise an eyebrow.

"But you're Harumi's 'date'," I put air quotes around the word date. Kai told me about the little deal he made, and I can't blame him. If I could get a car out of tolerating someone for a night, I would.

"I took pictures with Cole, didn't I? Besides, it'd be a shame since we're matching."

"Fine, but if anyone asks, it was your idea."

---

"It's been twenty minutes. What's taking her so long?" Chamille groans. Kai and I finished our little photo shoot, and now all of us are waiting outside for Harumi.

"We're going to be late," Griffin checks his watch, making Chamille groan.

"I'll go check on her. She probably lost track of time," I offer. I walk into her house, climbing up the spiral staircase to make it to her room, considering she's most likely going to be up there. I start to approach it when I hear her voice.

"I know I know," she sighs. I keep my distance so it doesn't seem too suspicious. Leaning forward slightly, I glance into her room. She's reapplying her mascara, her phone sat on her vanity. "But he's matching Skylor! That's just low."

"Well, do you know if they planned it?" the person on the other end of the call asks. I immediately recognize the voice as Lloyd's.

"Well no, but..." she starts.

"Then don't let it bug you. Enjoy your night," he advises her.

"I can try. What are you doing tonight?" she asks before puckering her lips in the mirror.

"Movie night with my mom and uncle. My dad is out with Killow and some of the other guys doing who knows what," he sighs.

"Can I come over after the dance? It ends at 11," she invites herself over.

"Your parents are okay with that?" he asks her.

"They don't care where I am," she answers him.

I make the executive call to interrupt them. I continue walking as if I never stopped in the first place. "Hey Harumi, everyone else is ready to go."

She jumps slightly at the sound of my voice, placing a hand over her chest. "You scared me. You could've knocked."

"Sorry. Are you ready to go?" I ask her. She nods, pretending like she wasn't on the phone. Grabbing her phone, she quickly hangs up and puts it in a little handbag she'll be carrying around tonight. "I like your nails," I compliment her since she's upset with me for accidentally matching with Kai, and I don't need her upset with me the whole night. Her nails are covered by green acrylics. They have gold detailing on them that match her dress.

"Aw thanks. I see you kept yours plain," she glances down at my bare nails. "It's so you. Now, let's get going. We have a homecoming to attend!"

A/N Homecoming is next chapter! It was one of the first chapters for the book I planned, so I'm excited to write it

I tried to update quickly to compensate for the late update (in my defense for that one, I planned two books before starting to write)

Last night, I stayed up until 2 in the morning reading my boyfriend cringey fanfiction on FaceTime, and it was the most hilarious thing. I blurred out the names of the characters, and it was pure joy.

To the other writers who read this, do you guys listen to music while writing? I turn on pandora and let whatever song comes on play in the background.

Would you guys prefer for me to write the next chapter of this first or the first Enmity chapter to give a little preview?

Who is your guys' favorite non ninja character? Mine is Skylor (I'm still beyond pissed that she's not a ninja)

This is so close to beating Hidden! Keep reading, commenting, and voting! Thank you guys